Lesson 41: Passive voice. Three ways: ser, estar, and se

Part 1: Why three options instead of one

English "to be + past participle" does triple duty: "was written by Cervantes" (action + agent), "is closed" (current state), "is spoken here" (general rule, no agent). Spanish splits these three jobs across three constructions:

Construction	Formula	What it shows	Example
Pasiva con SER	ser + participio + por + agent	action, who did it	La novela fue escrita por Cervantes.
ESTAR + participio	estar + participio	state / result	La novela está escrita. (already written)
Pasiva refleja / impersonal SE	se + verb (3rd person)	general rule, ad, custom, agent irrelevant	Aquí se habla español.

If you can say "by whom" → ser-passive. If you're describing the current state of the object → estar + participio. If it's a general rule or ad with no clear agent → se-passive. This is the default in living speech.

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Part 2: Ser + participio — the formal, "literal" passive

Formula

ser (in whatever tense) + past participle (agreeing in gender/number with the subject) + por + agent

This matches English "X was done by Y" word-for-word. It's grammatically correct in any register, but in real life you'll mostly meet it in journalism, history, science, and official documents.

Active	Passive with ser
Cervantes escribió la novela.	La novela fue escrita por Cervantes.
El presidente firmó el acuerdo.	El acuerdo fue firmado por el presidente.
Los obreros construyeron la casa.	La casa fue construida por los obreros.

Participle agreement — the part English doesn't have

The participle behaves like an adjective: it agrees with the grammatical subject in gender and number — el libro escrito, la novela escrita, los libros escritos, las novelas escritas. English participles never change ("written, written, written"), so English speakers regularly forget this. Watch the subject's ending and copy it onto the participle.

Ser-passive across tenses

Only ser changes; the participle keeps its form (modulo agreement). Presente: El acuerdo es firmado | Indefinido: fue firmado | Imperfecto: era firmado | Futuro: será firmado | Pluscuamperfecto: había sido firmado.

Where ser-passive lives (and doesn't)

Use it for newspapers, official documents, academic text, history. Do NOT use it in conversation — no Spanish speaker says La cena fue cocinada por mi madre; they say La cena la cocinó mi madre. In casual speech, ser-passive sounds like reading a press release.

If the agent is unknown or irrelevant, just drop the por-phrase: La ley fue aprobada ayer.

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Part 3: Estar + participio — NOT a passive, it's a state

ser + participio = action (something is/was being done) estar + participio = resulting state (the condition the thing is in now)

English collapses these ("The door is open" / "The door is opened"), so English speakers regularly miss the difference. In Spanish, they're two different statements.

Estar (state)	Ser (action)
La ventana está abierta. (it's open — now)	La ventana fue abierta por Juan. (Juan opened it)
La carta está escrita. (it's done)	La carta fue escrita ayer. (someone wrote it yesterday)
El museo está cerrado. (closed right now)	El museo fue cerrado en 2020. (they closed it in 2020)
La cena está preparada. (dinner is ready)	La cena fue preparada por el chef. (the chef prepared it)
El problema está resuelto. (it's solved)	El problema fue resuelto por el equipo. (the team solved it)

The test: if agent matters → ser; if you're describing the object's current condition → estar.

Estar + participio often = English "is already X"

Está hecho (it's done), está terminado (finished), está decidido (decided), está pagado (paid), está reservado (booked), está prohibido (forbidden), está roto (broken), está abierto (open).

Memory hack: when you can say "is already X" in English, you want estar in Spanish. The participle still agrees with the subject in gender and number: la puerta está cerrada / las puertas están cerradas.

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Part 4: Pasiva refleja and impersonal SE — the everyday passive

Take a verb in the 3rd person, put se in front, and you have the most natural Spanish "passive". This is the default when the agent is unknown, irrelevant, or simply not mentioned. Spanish reaches for it constantly — far more often than English uses its own passive.

English closest equivalents: "Spanish is spoken here" → Aquí se habla español; "How do you say that in Spanish?" → ¿Cómo se dice eso?; "No smoking" → No se fuma.

Two flavors

A. Pasiva refleja — there IS a grammatical subject, and the verb agrees with it in number:

Example	Subject	Verb
Se vende una casa.	una casa (sg)	vende (3 sg)
Se venden dos casas.	dos casas (pl)	venden (3 pl)
Se habla español aquí.	español (sg)	habla
Se hablan tres idiomas aquí.	tres idiomas (pl)	hablan

Watch the number. This is the #1 mistake English speakers make. Se vende casas sounds wrong — casas is plural, so the verb must be plural too: Se venden casas. The verb agrees with what, in English, would be the object.

B. Impersonal-se — no grammatical subject, verb is always 3rd singular:

• Aquí se vive bien. — Life is good here.
• En España se cena tarde. — In Spain people have dinner late.
• No se puede fumar. — You can't smoke. / No smoking.
• ¿Cómo se dice "hello" en español? — How do you say "hello" in Spanish?
• ¿Cómo se escribe tu nombre? — How is your name spelled?

Where the se-passive lives (and dominates)

• Classified ads, shop signs: Se vende. Se alquila. Se necesita personal.
• Instructions, recipes: Se añade el aceite. Se mezcla bien. Se hornea 20 minutos.
• Customs and generalizations: En México se come picante. En Argentina se toma mate.
• Rules and prohibitions: No se permite la entrada. Se prohíbe fumar.
• "How is it..." questions: ¿Cómo se escribe? ¿Cómo se pronuncia?

The "people" trap — singular for human objects

When the "object" is a person, the singular impersonal form is preferred, to avoid the verb sounding reflexive (otherwise Se buscan camareros can read as "waiters look for themselves" or "we hire waiters"):

• Se busca camarero. — Waiter wanted.
• Se necesita secretaria. — Secretary needed.
• Se contrata personal. — Now hiring.

For non-human objects, plural agreement is normal and obligatory: Se venden coches.

Refleja vs impersonal on the same verb

• Se construyen casas baratas. — Cheap houses are being built. (refleja: subject = casas)
• Aquí se construye mucho. — Lots of construction goes on here. (impersonal: no subject)

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Part 5: The decision table

Situation	Best choice	Example
Newspaper: "The president signed the law"	ser-passive	La ley fue firmada por el presidente.
"The door is closed" (state)	estar + part.	La puerta está cerrada.
Classified ad: "Car for sale"	se-passive	Se vende coche.
Shop window: "Spanish spoken here"	se-passive	Aquí se habla español.
"People work a lot here"	se-impersonal	Aquí se trabaja mucho.
Help-wanted: "Waiter needed"	se-impersonal sg.	Se busca camarero.
"The city was founded in 1500"	ser-passive	La ciudad fue fundada en 1500.
"The city is already restored"	estar + part.	La ciudad está restaurada.
Recipe: "Salt is added"	se-passive	Se añade sal.
"The novel was written by Cervantes"	ser-passive	La novela fue escrita por Cervantes.
"The novel is (already) written"	estar + part.	La novela está escrita.

One verb, four angles

• Active: Los romanos construyeron el puente. (The Romans built the bridge.)
• Pasiva ser: El puente fue construido por los romanos. (action + agent)
• Estar + part.: El puente está construido. (state — it's built)
• Pasiva se: Se construyen puentes nuevos cada año. (general / habitual)

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